Phillip Island Women's Kermesse (7 May 2011)

For this edition of the Phillip Island Women's Kermesse the TDT-Race-Bikeforce team had strength in numbers, with Chloe, Rebecca, Stacey, Sarah, Nicole and Delphine on the start line. The objective for this race was to win or at least get on the podium, and we knew we had to race an aggressive team race in order to beat the other big guns in the field. Indeed, we had quite a few riders to worry about: ex-pro Helen Kelly was racing, as well as the St Kilda Giant team; and the VIS came with a strong contingent in Kendelle Hodges, Victorian champion Joanne Hogan, and new to the women's scene U19 sprinting sensation Imogen Jelbart.



With near perfect conditions for Phillip Island (only a strong wind, not a gale force wind) and sun breaking through the clouds we started racing. Straight away Nik when to the front of the bunch to set the pace while the rest of us moved to sit in the top 10 positions.

From the second lap in we started attacking, first with Delphine, Chloe had a couple of digs, then Stacey and Sarah. The team tactics were to have Bec sit in the bunch and look after herself ready for a sprint finish, with the other girls trying to tire the legs off the other teams.

About half way through the race Sarah made a really strong attack, but was chased down. However she kept the pace high into the wind to string the bunch out. This is when Chloe counter-attacked and managed to get a good break on the field with only Kendelle Hodges (VIS) joining her. Our team went straight to the front to slow the pace. The team worked well to stop the peloton from chasing down the break and the2 leaders stayed away, with Chloe getting outsprinted by Kendelle to take 2nd place.



The minor placings up to tenth place were decided by a bunch kick and it was very difficult for the judges to finalise. After much deliberation and arguing they took us to the back and settled on a classification with the riders involved.
Overall, it was a very successful race with Chloe riding an outstanding race once again and another 2 riders making the top ten :
Chloe - 2nd / Delphine - 7th / Stacey -10th


THANK YOU to our sponsors for making this success possible :
TDT Australia
BIKEFORCE DOCKLANDS
RIDLEY
CHAMPION SYSTEM
BOUWMEESTER, BARTERCARD
WYNDHAMVALE PHYSIOTHERAPY

And to our team manager Kim Howard.

New Sponsor- Wyndhamvale Physiotherapy

We have a new sponsor on board for the remainder of the season...




The physio's at this place are awesome, it is located in Wyndhamvale (near Werribee) only a short drive from the city or Geelong.

They are equipped for performing bike set-ups and Sam has worked with U23 Aussie Mens road team in 2008/09.

If you need to see a physio or need advice on an injury give them a call on 97425148

Mersey Valley Tour (NRS #1)

Only Chloe made the journey down to Tasmania for the first of the NRS events of the year... Unfortunately it didn’t turn out to be all that successful with Chloe waking up sick on the Saturday morning.

It was a matter of just getting through each stage as the hills kept coming and the strong girls kept attacking.

At the end of the tour, Chloe finished a disappointing 19th on GC after losing a bunch of time on the second stage hill climb finish and spent Monday in the foetal position shaking.

Thanks to the Doak family for helping Chloe transport her equipment over to Tassie and for Miff Galloway, Amy Bradley and Jussi for the great company!

Oceania Road Championships (March 17-20)

28.4km IRTT
With much of the team needing some serious rest/recoup after the Tour of New Zealand, only 3 members of the team were lining up for the Oceania titles.
Clare and Chloe raced the Individual Time Trial on the Thursday, both posting very solid results with Chloe in 8th place and Clare in 13th position. Shara Gillow showed why she got top 10 at the World Championships, stomping home 52seconds in front of 2nd placed Bridie O’Donnell. Alexis Rhodes rounded out the podium in 3rd place.

116km Road Race
The Dookie circuit was a lot tougher riding than what it looked on paper and with an extremely strong field of 60 odd girls it was a damn tough day out there!
Honda Dream Team were looking to secure Rochelle Gilmore a spot for World Champs and had a strong team who chased everything down, hoping for the race to be decided by a sprint.

Bec and Clare did a great job of trying to control the bunch when Chloe was attacking off the front.

It wasn’t until the final lap of the course that an attack stuck... Shara Gillow attacked and Chloe found the legs to go with her. About 10km from the finish Shara got the word that Bridie O’Donnell was bridging the gap across solo and attacked Chloe on the main climb, again showing why she is a world class athlete, staying away to take the Oceania Road title.

Bridie reached Chloe about 3km from home and after spending the last 20km on threshold Chloe couldn’t quite stay with her into the finish, but had the race of her life to hold off the peloton by 40seconds and secure 3rd place in an international UCI event.

It was great to have the support of manager Kim Howard and also awesome for Chloe’s family and boyfriend to be there watching her have a ripper!

Thanks to our sponsors as well for the new kit that arrived in time for the race. It got some good exposure with a podium place!!

UCI Women's Tour of New Zealand

Team member Delphine Astier has written a report, it is posted on her blog which can be visted here...

http://delphineastier.blogspot.com

A very successful tour for the team, as none of the girls had ever raced a UCI tour before.

We had 3 stages where team members finished top 20 in a field with some of the best riders in the world.

A big thanks to Murray Spink for being an awesome mechanic and Miffy Galloway for being a great swanny when she had to pull out of the race due to injury. Also to Kim Howard, team manager, massage therapist, general all round team mum for the support over a tough week of racing.




Big thanks also in order for the Hilton hotel at Tullamarine airport for letting us use there lobby after our flight was delayed 11hrs!!!